Same-Sex Marriage General Discussion Thread

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You're implying that gay men are abnormal and indecent.

It's actually the complete opposite.

I don't personally believe this

but, I am sure conversations like this are happening in many homes, around water coolers and similar places



edit to add

these are the types of things I have heard, typically they are from someone, say a bit older, 40 plus
lately I have been asking them what they mean, to explain it to me. (in a non-hostile way)

it is an interesting exercise.
 
Anderson Cooper: "The Fact Is, I'm Gay."

The fact is, I'm gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn’t be any more happy, comfortable with myself, and proud.

This is reassuring. From reading this website one sometimes fears that American gays eke out miserable existences filled with constant abuse and bullying and are virtually consigned to their homes!
 
American hero - U.S. Marine Oliver Sipple



On September 22 in San Francisco, Oliver Sipple was in the crowd outside the Saint Francis Hotel to catch a glimpse of President Ford. Sara Jane Moore, a 45-year-old political activist, was standing next to him and pointed a revolver at the commander-in-chief. He grabbed her arm, deflected the shot, and, prevented her from harming the president. Ford later thanked him in a letter.

Sipple became an instant hero and an instant victim.

Born in Detroit, Michigan in 1941, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps during Vietnam and was wounded twice. Following his discharge he moved to San Francisco, living on a veteran's disability pension and active in gay causes but not officially out of the closet to his family. Gay activist and politician Harvey Milk, who was running for City Council, publicly proclaimed Sipple a hero and said his act would "help break the stereotype of homosexuals." The San Francisco Chronicle also outed him.

After learning her son's secret, Sipple's mother cut off contact with him entirely. Sipple sued the Chronicle and six other papers for damages and the mental stress he suffered as a result of his mother's actions. The litigation languished in court until it was finally dismissed five years later. The stress led Sipple to drinking, and becoming paranoid and suicidal. He was found dead on February 2, 1989 in his apartment. At the time, police said Sipple weighed about 300 pounds and they believed he had been dead for two weeks. The President and Mrs. Ford sent condolence letters to Sipple's friends and family.

Rod 2.0:Beta #gay #news #lgbt #gaynews: Gay Man Prevented Ford Assassination Attempt
 
This is reassuring. From reading this website one sometimes fears that American gays eke out miserable existences filled with constant abuse and bullying and are virtually consigned to their homes!

Financeguy, does your brain immediately erase everything you've previously read when it comes across a quote that fits your narrow, simpleminded world view? The statement that was literally right before the one you posted said "There continue to be far too many incidences of bullying of young people, as well as discrimination and violence against people of all ages, based on their sexual orientation, and I believe there is value in making clear where I stand."
You need to give your head a shake, man
 
I love Anderson

This is just beautiful


I love, and I am loved.

In my opinion, the ability to love another person is one of God’s greatest gifts, and I thank God every day for enabling me to give and share love with the people in my life.


I like watching his talk show, because he reveals more of that side of himself. Especially when his mother is on. He's such a good man.
 
This is reassuring. From reading this website one sometimes fears that American gays eke out miserable existences filled with constant abuse and bullying and are virtually consigned to their homes!

...because many still are living such lives, perhaps?

Much respect for Anderson. I'm glad he's in a happy place in his life and comfortable with himself :up:.

deep, thanks for that story about Sipple, too. Indeed, he is a true hero, and I feel bad that his life turned out so tragically after that incident.
 
If an independent outsider came into FYM and was asked to take a look at the last 10 years of regular posters and rank the top ten posters who posted about identity/ gender politics; you my friend would fall into the top 3, if not number 1. It's mindblowing that you are oblivious to this.

You really are a complete arsehole.
 
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Very sad

abcnews.com


By SUSAN DONALDSON JAMES
July 17, 2012

For nearly seven years, Dale Liuzza raised his son as the caregiving parent in a gay relationship. The boy was conceived through a surrogate, a donor egg and a mixture of sperm from both his dads.

"We didn't know or care about the biology," said Liuzza, 31, and a behavioral therapist who works with autistic children in New Orleans. "I pretty much raised him. As far as I was concerned, I carried him."

But when the men's relationship fell apart, his partner determined he was the biological father and took the boy out of state to Texas and eventually to Washington State.

Louisiana does not recognize same-sex marriage or second-parent adoption, so Liuzza was left with no legal parental rights.

"I never imagined he would move out of state and I would have no say in the matter at all," he said. "I don't sleep at night thinking about [the child]."

Now, a report released today, Securing Legal Ties for Children Living in LGBT Families," finds that current state laws put many children at risk and undermine family stability.

In more than 30 states, children in LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] families are legal strangers to at least one of their parents.

In Louisiana, for example, Liuzza would have to be the biological parent or legally married to his partner to secure parenting rights. Same-sex marriage is illegal in that state and two men's names cannot appear on the birth certificate.

Between 2 million and 2.8 million children are being raised by LGBT parents, and because of a patchwork of state laws and no federal protections, many of these children are at risk, according to the report by the Movement Advancement Project, Family Equality Council, Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, the Equality Foundation and the Center for American Progress.

The findings are based on a 2011 report, "Children Matter: How Legal and Social Inequities Hurt LGBT Families." This third companion report recommends policies and laws that the groups say address the changing American family and protect children.

In the United States, 69 percent of children live with married, heterosexual parents, down from 83 percent in 1970, according to the report. Today, an estimated 24 percent of female same-sex couples, 11 percent of male couples and 38 percent of transgender Americans are raising children.

The states with the highest number of children being raised by LGBT families -- many of them in the conservative South -- are those with the most restrictive laws.

While states like California and New York have high numbers of same-sex couples, those most likely to be raising children live in Mississippi, Wyoming, Alaska, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, Alabama, Montana, South Dakota and South Carolina, in that order.

A second legal parent may be unable to pick up a child from day care without authorization or advocate for a child in school. In these states, nonbiological same-sex parents cannot include a child on their health insurance and can be denied access to a hospital in an emergency or be left out of health care decisions.

Inconsistent laws make it difficult even for families from states where same-sex marriage and second-parent adoption is legal when they cross state lines, according to the report.

"If a couple in Washington, a state with full parental recognition, goes on vacation jet skiing in Idaho and the kid gets hurt, one parent might not be recognized," said Calla Rongerude, spokesman for the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBT think tank, and one of the co-authors of the report.

"If you are a New York family visiting Philadelphia, you better take everything you have and hope there is a sympathetic nurse when you have to go to the hospital," she said.

Children are also unable to access death or disability benefits or government safety net programs from a non-legal parent. They can lose inheritance and other protections designed to keep them safe during times of crisis, according to the report.

"When we talk about ballot measures on marriage, we don't talk about the kids," said Rongerude. "And frankly, they are the most vulnerable."
Gay Couples Challenge North Carolina Law

In North Carolina, for example, second-parent adoptions for same-sex couples were outlawed in 2010. Only stepparents who are legal spouses or the biological parent can adopt. Gay marriage is not legal in that state.

Even those couples who lived in "friendly counties" around the state's urban centers who previously had such rights, had them revoked when a judge invalidated their adoptions.

Now, with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, six same-sex couples have filed a lawsuit to fight the ban , saying it violates their constitutional rights and is discriminatory. They hope to take it to the Supreme Court.

When LGBT families are banned from being foster parents or adopting, children are denied permanent homes and remain in state care instead, according to studies from the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute.

"The best interests of children should always be paramount," said its executive director, Adam Pertman, in a prepared statement. "With more than 400,000 children in foster care and more than 100,000 children awaiting adoption, it simply makes no sense -- and certainly isn't to their benefit -- to deny children a forever home with qualified and loving parents simply because those parents are gay or unmarried."

In widely different policy, California allows same-sex couples to pursue second-parent adoption. Going one step further, the state Senate is expected to pass a law allowing multiple parents to act on a child's behalf, as an effort to keep children out of foster care in case of death or divorce.

The bill sprang from a 2011 appellate court decision that placed a girl in foster care when her legally married parents -- two lesbians -- could not care for her. The child was taken into state custody when one of her mothers was jailed and the nonbiological mother was hospitalized.

The court did not have the authority to appoint the girl's biological father, with whom she had a relationship, as a legal parent.

As for Liuzza, he never dreamed his son would be taken away. "I thought we were equal like everyone else," he said.

But after he initiated a separation because of problems in the relationship, Liuzza said his partner sought genetic testing.

Just before the boy's sixth birthday, his partner used his rights as the legal parent to take the child away.

"I showed up at school one day to pick [the boy] up and he wasn't there," said Liuzza. "I called my ex and he was on a plane to Dallas. The school had no idea. My son had no idea. I had no idea."

Now, he only sees his son once every two months and his ex-partner times the phone calls to 20 minutes twice a week. Although Liuzza has generous health benefits, his ex-partner does not, and the child hasn't seen a doctor or dentist in months.

In California, where he has gay friends who both have legal rights, Luizza said, "if David and David separated, they would be able to fight it in court."

"It's the hardest thing," he said. "And the only way I can get through it is knowing that when my son is 16 or 17, he can make the decision where he wants to live."

Liuzza hired two lawyers and spent "so much money" to make himself a legal parent, but to no avail.

"I couldn't do it," he said. "I am virtually a stranger … Frankly, biology in this state is more important than experience and caregiving."
 
Chick-Fil-A Responds To Anti-Gay Controversy On Facebook

I'm eating at Chick-Fil-A tomorrow. I must be anti-gay.

No, that in and of itself doesn't make one anti-gay.

But Chick-Fil-A's comments are nonetheless incredibly stupid.

I like the quote in that article from Melissa Browning:

"But hate is not a Christian value. Jesus, who never married, did not come to marginalize people but to proclaim justice."

And she's a Baptist minister, too. Interesting.

(Also, good point about Jesus never marrying!)
 
Via the above link:

Since Mr. Cathy is an expert on the Bible and on food, I hope he can also explain how to deal with the fact that some of Chick-fil-A's offerings do not seem to follow biblical dietary laws. For instance, in Leviticus 11:7 it says, "And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you." But at Chick-fil-A, I can order up a Bacon, Egg and Cheese Biscuit. Swine is forbidden, but bacon is OK, is that right? Oh, teach me, Mr. Cathy, teach me! Remember: Your fast-food restaurant is my portal to Christ!

Domenick Scudera: Did Jesus Eat Chick-fil-A at the Last Supper?

Better bacon than those sinful, marriage killing barbarians, right?
 
I just wouldn't eat at a place with a name as dumb as "Chick-fil-A" to begin with.
 
We're all boycotting. Which is particularly hard for a deep-fried southerner like Memphis.

If you cared about marriage equality you'd boycott too.

A very philanthropic organization gives a portion of its donations to groups defending traditional marriage. If I, as a religious conservative, were to boycott every corporation that gave a portion of its charity dollars to the ACLU, Planned Parenthood or Obama/Biden that would leave... what? Chick-Fil-A and Koch Industries I guess.

I reserve the right to boycott in extreme cases but I also try and respect Free Speech and Freedom of Association rights. And the right for people and businesses to do what they damn well want with their own money. Including the right to boycott with your money.
 
I don't think you actually believe in "defending traditional marriage."

Because you know that phrase is a crock of shit and little more than saying "state's rights" when the subject is segregation.
 
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